The Best Ultra-Portable Laptops For Your Money

The best ultra-portable laptops for your money?

By that, we mean the laptops that offer the best combination of performance and battery life at a given price, while being small and light enough to be carried around all day.

If you have the time to do research… but who does in this busy world?

Reading detailed ultra-portable laptop reviews and specs is a lot of fun. However, most of us don’t have the time to do that and just want the answers. In other words, what you want to know is what is the best ultra-portable laptop for your budget.

So if you don’t have the time to do the research, or just don’t care to do it, don’t worry. We’ll come to your help with this article.

The Lenovo X220, the best ultra-portable for $1250. Equipped with a powerful Intel Core i7-2640M 2.7-3.4GHz Turbo Dual-Core + Hyper-Threading processor, a 12.5″ IPS display with great viewing angles and color accuracy, a great keyboard and featuring an excellent battery life of up to 12 hours! Weights only 3.31lbs.

About Ultra-portable laptops:

Those laptops, also known as thin & light laptops or ultrabooks, generally have a screen that’s 14″ or smaller, a relatively thin profile and a weight under 4lbs. They usually have a better than average battery life.

They are ideal for road warriors and people who carry their laptop around all day long, without necessarily having access to a power source.

On the downside, some of the smaller/lighter laptops have lower CPU/video card performance and a smaller keyboard/trackpad due to their smaller dimensions.

Of course, this varies from one laptop to another. For example, some ultra-portables have great keyboards (e.g. Lenovo Thinkpad X220 series) and slightly larger/thicker ultra-portables have relatively powerful CPUs and video cards.

Other types of laptops:
If you’re looking for a different type of laptop, we have an article on The Best Gaming Laptops For Your Money and we’ll soon have articles on the Best Workstations and the Best General Computing/Family laptops.

A few reminders:

We’ll use this opportunity to remind you that this article is only a guideline for the prices we’ve seen on April 23rd 2012. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you read this article:

This specific article on the best ultra-portable laptops have eight (8) price ceilings for the recommended laptops: Up to $450, $550, $650, $800, $1000, $1250, $1500 and $2000. We may also suggest some alternatives to our main recommendations, for reasons that we’ll explain.

This list is based on the best U.S. prices from NewEgg, Amazon or the manufacturer’s website. Prices and availability change everyday. We can’t keep up with accurate pricing everyday, but we’ll suggest to you great laptops that you won’t regret buying at the price ranges that we list.

All prices are based on new laptops prices, no refurbished or open box laptops are listed; they might be a good deal, but they come with trade offs, such as missing accessories, higher failure rate, limited return policy, limited warranty, limited availability, etc.

When two laptops are being compared, we’ll use the brand name as indicators. When two laptops with the same brand name are being compared, we’ll use the model as indicators.

Listed battery life represents real-life battery life when browsing the web with Wifi, based on websites and customers reviews.

Summary

Click on any of these links to jump to the price point that interests you. Alternatively, scroll down to see them all, in this order.

Beats Audio: The audio quality and maximum volume is a lot better than the average netbook.

Bluetooth 2.1

Cons:

Limited processor performance: Faster than an Intel Atom dual-core or AMD C series CPUs, but considerably slower than a Core i3/5/7 processor.

Limited video card performance that lacks dedicated memory.

Glossy screen: Forget about using this laptop in direct sunlight

Lacks an optical drive

LAN speed limited to 100Mbps and not 1000Mbps

Ideal for:

Students, businessmen, anyone looking for a low cost laptop capable of running Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. along with many other popular software, while being highly portable along with a decent battery life.

To avoid for:

Someone who wants a large enough screen with a high resolution for viewing/comparing multiple documents.

Someone who wants to play recent games at playable frame rates. (Older games should, however be playable)

Someone who requires an optical drive. Then again, you can get an external one.

Alternatives:

If your budget is even lower than $400, with a similar screen and body size, this Acer is a great choice, though at the cost of performance.

Compared to many other single cored laptops at this price range, the Acer’s AMD C-60 1.00GHz-1.33GHz Turbo Dual-Core is actually quite powerful, even outperforming the Intel Atom N570 or N2600 processor.

Best Ultra-Portable Laptop for $550

About the Dell Vostro V131:

Fairly powerful Intel Core i3-2330M 2.2GHz Dual-Core + Hyper-Threading processor for a laptop this thin at this price point

Faster 7200RPM hard drive compared to typical 5400RPM

Thin, maximum thickness at .83″

Anti-glare display

Great battery life! ~7.5 hours of web browsing

Open slot of RAM for easy and cheap RAM upgrade

2x USB 3.0

Intel Widi compatible

Integrated Bluetooth

Fingerprint reader

Cons:

Slightly heavy for a 13.3″ laptop, at 4.03lbs.

A little longer build than most 13.3″ laptops

Limited video card performance that lacks dedicated memory

Only 2GB of RAM, although this can easily be upgraded to 4GB with another 2GB stick or to 8GB with a 8GB (2x4GB) memory kit.

Lacks optical drive

Ideal for:

Anyone especially students, businessmen, etc. looking for a low cost laptop that’s powerful enough to running Microsoft Office along with some lightweight photo/video editing and many other popular software, while being portable along with a decent battery life.

To avoid for:

Someone who wants a large enough screen for viewing/comparing multiple documents.

Someone who wants to play recent games at playable frame rates. (Older games should, however be playable)

With the same processing power as the Dell, the Asus comes equipped with a more powerful dedicated video card with a couple drawbacks. While in games, the Nvidia GeForce GT 520m performs higher than the Intel HD Graphics 3000, don’t expect to play all recent games at playable frame rates, even at lower settings. Older games will be playable.

Alternatives:

Though both the Toshiba and the Samsung are portable laptops, they are designed each for a different crowed. The Samsung while being much more portable loses some features of the Toshiba along with performance.Advantages of the Samsung

If you like the type of package the ~$650 recommended laptop (Toshiba Portege R835-P83) offers over the Acer’s, but want a laptop at this price range with more features such as gaming capabilities, consider this Sony with a fairly powerful AMD Radeon HD 6630m 1GB capable of playing even the most demanding games (Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, etc.) at lower settings. All this within a fairly portable chassis.

Battery life (~4.5 hours) can be extended with a separately sold battery sheet.

Higher display resolution (1600×900 vs the Acer at 1366×768)

Ethernet port

1x USB 3.0

VGA port

Disadvantages of the Sony

Slightly heavier (3.65lbs vs theAcer at 2.98lbs)

Much thicker (.92” vs the Acer at .51-.68“)

Potentially much louder with video card + fan

Costs more ($900 vs the Acer at $800)

Mathieu: I love the SONY VAIO SA Series VPCSA3AFX/SI, that would be my ideal laptop if I was shopping for a laptop at the moment. It’s fairly light, has a 1600 x 900 resolution screen (I cannot stand 1366 x 768 urgh 1920 x 1080 would be tough to read on a 13.3″ screen), the RAM/HDD can be upgraded, it has an optical drive (which I’d replace with a hard drive caddy and would put the HDD in there (There would be a SSD in place of the HDD) and fairly powerful video card!

For ~$825, you can get one of the most powerful 11.6″ laptops available. The Asus is equipped with an Intel Core i7-2640m 2.8-3.5GHz processor performing much higher than the majority of ultraportable laptops.

If you prefer OS X over Windows, though already “out dated,” this is the lowest costing laptop on Apple’s lineup of MacBooks.

Because the way each operating systemutilizes hardware (processor, RAM, video card, etc.) are unique, comparing these two laptops’ overall performance becomes difficult, however since the MacBook is equipped with an older generation Core 2 Duo with no turbo functions, it allows us to give the upper hand to the Acer.

On the other hand, thanks to Apple’s more efficient software, the difference in performance should only be noticeable in demanding programs/video games.

Other features however, can be fairly compared. With the thickness of both laptops nearly the same, here is the comparison.

Advantages of the MacBook

Equipped with a dedicated video card (Nvidia GeForce GT 320m)

Much lighter (2.3lbs vs the Acer at 2.98lbs)

Longer battery life (~5.5 hours vs the Acer at ~4.5hours)

Much more SSD storage that’s more practical (128GB SSD vs the Acer’s 20GB SSD used for hibernation cache)

With its renowned keyboard, tough chassis, and overall professional look, the Lenovo, while not as portable as the Acer, is highly recommended for anyone looking for performance, reliability and comfort over portability. With that said, the Lenovo itself is still quite a portable laptop.

If you prefer OS X over Windows, the MacBook air is a great alternative at this price range. Because the way each operating systemutilizes hardware (processor, RAM, video card, etc.) are unique, comparing these two laptops’ overall performance is difficult. Other features however, can be fairly compared. With the thickness of both laptops nearly the same, here is the comparison.Advantages of the MacBook

Vs. ~$1000 Recommended Laptop (Asus Zenbook UX31E-DH52)

Though both the Lenovo and the Asus are portable laptops, they are designed each for a different crowed. The Asus while being much more portable loses some features of the Lenovo along with performance.

Though both the Lenovo and the Acer are portable laptops, they are designed each for a different crowd. The Acer while being much more portable loses some features of the Lenovo along with performance.

If you prefer OS X over Windows, the MacBook air is a great alternative at this price range.

Because the way each operating systemutilizes hardware (processor, RAM, video card, etc.) are unique, comparing these two laptops’ overall performance is difficult. However, in this situation no one will argue against the Lenovo clearly outperforming the MacBook. Other features however, can be compared relatively straight forward.

If you prefer OS X over Windows, the MacBook Pro is a great alternative at this price range. Because the way each operating systemutilizes hardware (processor, RAM, video card, etc.) are unique, comparing these two laptops’ overall performance is difficult. Other features however, can be fairly compared.

Best Ultra-Portable Laptop for $1500

None. I don’t recommend any portable laptops for around $1500 because there are no laptop at this price range that significantly improves from ~$1250 enough for an additional $250 to be justified.

With that said, if you have a maximum budget of $1500 and want to spend no more or less, then I recommend purchasing the recommended laptop for ~$1250 along with an SSD and/or RAM upgrade (recommendations for upgrading hard drive and RAM found at the bottom of the page).

Best Ultra-Portable Laptop for $2000

About the Sony VAIO VPC-Z216GX/L:

Included dock with AMD Radeon HD 6650M with 1GB dedicated VRAM video card: Not a powerhouse, but superior to the Intel HD 3000 for gaming and allows the laptop to handle up to four monitors.

Dock also has a Blu-Ray Reader, that can burn DVDs and CDs and an USB 3.0 port

Light: 2.57lbs

Backlit keyboard

Dual SSD setup (2 x 128GB in RAID 0), for a total of 256GB of storage space

1600 x 900 display resolution

Widi compatible

Bluetooth 2.1

Cons:

Average battery life: ~5.5hours, but it can be extended to 12-15 hours with a Sony Sheet Battery.

Very expensive: $2000

Glossy screen: Forget about using this laptop in direct sunlight

Non-upgradable RAM

Ideal for:

Anyone who wants a very powerful portable laptop without the cost of style, weight, and many features of larger laptops.

Anyone who wants a very light laptop that can handle some gaming when connecting it to the dock.

To avoid for:

Someone who wants a large enough screen for viewing/comparing multiple documents. However, the large resolution does mean more screen estate making working with multiple documents on one screen possible at the cost of visually smaller fonts.

Vs. ~$1250 Recommended Laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad X220)

Both laptops’ performance are virtually even, however the Lenovo inches ahead thanks to a slightly higher clocked processor. The main reason to spend $750 more for the Sony is for its higher display resolution, large SSD, and much lighter build.

Vs. the Competition

While Apple does offer a very powerful MacBook Pro 15.4″ at this price range, being well over 5lbs, we did not consider it to be ultra-portable.

At this price range, as of Windows based laptops, there are no other offering a package as powerful and portable as the Sony.

Portable Laptops to Avoid

These are laptops we recommend to avoid. This website is targeted for any anyone at any level of computer understanding, therefore some of the following may be obvious to some.

Toshiba Portege Z835
(Not to be confused with the Toshiba Portege R835, which we do recommend at the $650 price point)
While it offers one of the sleekest bodies with some impressive hardware, many customer reviews point to a similar build issue issue. The display is simply too flimsy and a cracked screen is the result of many consumers’ typical uses.

ChromebooksChromebooks are very simply laptops capable of running mainly Google’s online suite of programs. While Google is certainly a respectable name, it is very difficult to recommend a Chromebook over even our lowest cost ($330) recommended laptop (Acer Aspire One A0722-0369). A Windows laptop is capable of doing nearly everything a Chromebook can and much more.

Upgrade your RAM, Hard Drive and/or Sound Card

Upgrade your RAM:

RAM can easily be upgraded on most laptops. I recommend the most reliable sticks that I can find.

Pick one of the following recommendations below, depending on if your laptop comes with a single stick of RAM or two, or if you can have up to 4 sticks.

My recommendations should be compatible with all the laptops recommended in this guide, assuming that the laptop’s RAM can be upgraded, which is not the case of all of them. You can find this information in the specifications for each laptop above. If you’re not sure, feel free to ask us in the comments section at the end of the article.

For laptops with four RAM slots: 16GB (4x4GB) memory kit:

Upgrade your hard drive:

With some ultra-portable laptops, you can upgrade your hard drive to a faster and/or a larger hard drive. Alternatively, you can also replace it with a tremendously faster SSD (Solid State Drive), which also consume a tad less power than laptop hard drive, so replacing a hard drive by a SSD will slightly boost your laptop’s battery life.

Do note that not all ultra-portable laptops accept standard hard drives with a 9.5mm height, some require a 7mm thick drive while others demand a mSATA SSD. This is indicated for the laptops that are recommended above. If we didn’t indicate it, you can simply ask us by leaving a comment at the end of the article.

Upgrade to a SSD

If you want to upgrade your hard drive to a SSD, we recommend to you the Crucial M4 line-up of SSDs, which offers a great balance of reliability and performance, at a great price.

Furthermore, I recommend these particular Crucial M4 SSDs, for they include a CD with cloning software and a SATA to USB adapter, to help you transfer the content of your current hard drive to the SSD, in order to minimize downtime and make your life easier.

7mm thick SSDs:
If you need a 7mm thick SSD or if you want an even faster SSD, we recommend to you the Samsung 830 line-up of SSDs, which offers class-leading performance and reliability.

Furthermore, I recommend these particular Samsung 830 SSDs, for they include a CD with cloning software and a SATA to USB adapter, to help you transfer the content of your current hard drive to the SSD, in order to minimize downtime and make your life easier.

Get a monitor:

Laptops to Look Forward to

Not planning to buy a laptop anytime soon? Here is an overlook to what is to come in the near future.

Intel Ivy Bridge and Intel HD 4000 equipped laptops

Intel’s upcoming CPU, Ivy Bridge, will be equipped with the Intel HD 4000 integrated video card is set to be released along with a large lineup of currently unnamed laptops in 2012. Compared to the currently most popular video card for portable laptops (HD 3000), the HD 4000 will improve graphics performance by an average of 50%: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5772/mobile-ivy-bridge-and-asus-n56vm-preview/6

As for the CPU part, we’re talking about a ~20% improvement in CPU performance vs the 2nd generation of Intel ix mobile CPUs. Battery life should in theory improve too, thanks to the lower power consumption of Ivy Bridge vs Sandy Bridge.

Finally, we should start seeing quad-core CPUs in ultra-portable laptops that are currently equipped with standard voltage Sandy Bridge dual-core CPUs, with the new Intel i7-3612QM 2.1-3.1Ghz Turbo Quad-Core + Hyper-Threading having a 35W TDP, low enough to fit in laptops described above.

AMD Trinity:
Expected anytime now, AMD is about to launch Llano’s successor, Trinity, which will bring higher CPU performance and just as importantly, higher video card performance, for low-end gaming laptops and ultra-portable laptops capable of some decent gaming performance.

Touchscreen

If you are a fan of touchscreen devices, look forward to Ultrabooks equipped with touchscreens. From what it looks like, this will go greatly in hand with the upcoming Windows 8.

Keep in mind that the term “Ultrabook” is a trademark of Intel, which reserves to laptops that meets specific specifications. We should also see “Ultrabooks” type of laptops equipped with a low voltage AMD Trinity chip, starting around $500 from what I heard.

Conclusion

Overall, 2012 looks to expand the market for portable laptops. We will begin to see higher performing laptops thanks to Intel’s Ivy Bridge, AMD’s Trinity as well as AMD’s and Nvidia’s new line of video cards. We also expect to see manufactures lower prices on low end portable laptops to expand their marketing.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this first edition of the Best Portable Laptops For Your Money, written by Xai Her (Ichigeki), our new “Best Laptops For Your Money” collaborator and edited by Mathieu Bourgie, the editor-in-chief and founder of Hardware Revolution.

Of course, with this being the first edition of the article and this being such a large article (over 8000 words!) with many recommendations and alternatives, you may find some typos.

Alternatively, you may believe that there’s a better option than our recommendation.

If that happens, feel free to leave a comment below and remember, you can join us on our forums to discuss with everyone else the laptop that you’re planning to buy, ask your questions and join our helpful community.

About The Author

HR Founder - Computer expert with over 16 years of experience in building, fixing and modifying PCs.
Over the years, I’ve developed a passion for PC hardware and now I enjoy helping others build their own PCs!
In April 2008, I launched Hardware Revolution and ... Read more at my about page

Did you enjoy this article? Support us by making a donation!

You can support Hardware Revolution by making a donation, by clicking here or using the button.

This website is my job, I must pay for staff and hosting, as well as cover my living costs.

How much should you donate? Think about how much money and time that I've helped you save. Offer me a coffee, a beer, a meal, an evening out, etc. Donate what you can. Anything is appreciated.